Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

In Defense Of Prostitution
Legal Affairs ^ | Sept/Oct '03 | By Heidi Fleiss as told to Nadya Labi

Posted on 08/21/2003 7:06:56 AM PDT by dogbrain

TEN YEARS AGO, I WAS ARRESTED AT MY HOME IN BEVERLY HILLS for pandering, which the dictionary defines as acting as "a go-between in sexual intrigue." In other words, I was a madam. After a jury convicted me of three counts of pandering, the verdicts were thrown out, but the government didn't give up. It made me the Al Capone of prostitution. I spent three years in a federal penitentiary in Dublin, Calif., for conspiracy, tax evasion, and money laundering. But it was the sex that got me in trouble.

When I was a Hollywood madam, I had between 20 and 70 girls working for me and once made $97,000 in a single day on commissions. My take was 40 percent of whatever fee my girls received and of any tips over $1,000. (Compare that to prison, where I made about a dime an hour cleaning pots and taking out the trash.)

When I was in the sex trade, I ran an 85 percent cash business. I dealt with the richest people on earth—men who run countries and this country's top businesses. Most of them preferred to pay in cash. The actor Charlie Sheen was one of my few customers who wrote checks, but looking back I now realize he was a class act. He paid his bills, girls liked him, and he was well-endowed.

I didn't get involved in prostitution because I needed money. I had the kind of childhood that everyone dreams about, with five brothers and sisters, camping trips, pillow fights, and marathon Monopoly games. We weren't like the Britney Spears generation—the girls today who look like they're ready to have sex at 9. I started a babysitting circle when I wasn't much older than that and soon all the parents in the neighborhood wanted me to watch over their children. Even then I had an innate business sense. I started farming out my friends to meet the demand. My mother showered me with love and my father, a pediatrician, would ask me at the dinner table, "What did you learn today?"

At 19, I began dating a 57-year-old multimillionaire. The relationship was good, but when it ended I realized that he had won every fight we had because I had no career, nothing to stand on. So I got a license in real estate. But before long, I was wrapped up in an entirely different world. I began going to Helena's, a popular nightclub in Los Angeles run by Jack Nicholson's former housekeeper, and met a bookie who later introduced me to Madam Alex, a "businesswoman" whose employees were known for their good looks and popularity. (I didn't know at the time that I was there to pay off the guy's gambling debt.) I was expecting a sexy glamour queen like Faye Dunaway in the TV movie Beverly Hills Madam. But Madam Alex was a 5' 3" bald-headed Filipina in a transparent muu muu. We hit it off.

My first john—I was then 22—was gorgeous. I would have slept with him for free if I had met him in a bar or on a blind date. We had a great night, and I made $3,000 after Madam Alex's 40-percent cut was deducted from my fee.

I'm glad I learned the business in the trenches, but my career as a hooker was short-lived. I'm not the California dream girl, and sexually, I'm lazy. The profession didn't play to my strengths, which lie in business, not bed. After Madam Alex and I had a falling-out in 1989, I decided to leave prostitution altogether and go back to college to become an art curator. (I had dropped out of junior college during my first semester when I was 17.)

So why did I become a madam? I had tons of beautiful friends and lots of great connections from traveling the world with my ex-boyfriend. One day I just realized that I could run a sex business better than anyone else I knew. My first client was a Swiss businessman who was in Los Angeles with six acquaintances. I set the men up with some girls I knew and all of them were very happy. The word spread and demand snowballed after that. I tried to stay in college and run the business at the same time, but it was too hard skipping out of class to arrange get-togethers over the school's pay phone.

I would fly girls to meet clients in St. Tropez, London, or wherever they were in the world. Just from talking to a man, I knew what kind of girl he'd be interested in.

I made sure never to send a prostitute into an unsafe situation or one where she felt humiliated or degraded. I was always conscious of how prostitution could lower a woman's self-esteem and I didn't want anyone who worked for me to feel that way. My clients were some of the richest men in the world. They wanted to look the best and live the longest. They were at the doctors regularly. I never had one girl come down with an STD, not even crabs. But I told my girls that if they ever felt uncomfortable with a client, they should call me and I would get them out of there—no matter where they were. I made my first million after only four months in the business.

I wouldn't recommend prostitution as a career because it doesn't have great long-term prospects. Still, a woman should have the right to do what she wants with her body...

(Excerpt) Read more at legalaffairs.org ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Miscellaneous; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: ageofconsentlaws; consentingadults; culturewar; incestlaws; lawrencevtexas; legal; legalizedprostitutes; libertines; privacylaws; prostitution; prostitutionlaws; sexlaws; slipperyslope; sluts; sodomylaws; vice
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-70 next last
(...gingerly stepping away from this thread...)
1 posted on 08/21/2003 7:06:56 AM PDT by dogbrain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: dogbrain
read later for research purposes only.
2 posted on 08/21/2003 7:10:11 AM PDT by LiteKeeper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dogbrain
"They were at the doctors regularly. I never had one girl come down with an STD, not even crabs."

That seems hard to believe. But then again, it does not make for good business (what am I saying) to have diseased hoes.
3 posted on 08/21/2003 7:11:16 AM PDT by Stew Padasso (pro-rock.com - bsnn.net - libertyteeth.com - BFD - Puff Puff Ping)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LiteKeeper
read later for research purposes only.

ROFLOL

4 posted on 08/21/2003 7:13:41 AM PDT by Prof Engineer (HHD: Middle Earth First, We'll Electrify the Rest Later)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: dogbrain
Your parents must be proud...
5 posted on 08/21/2003 7:15:35 AM PDT by smiley
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: smiley
...ouch!

(just kidding)

6 posted on 08/21/2003 7:17:26 AM PDT by dogbrain ("Life is hard son. It's harder if you're stupid.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: dogbrain
When I was a Hollywood madam, I had between 20 and 70 girls working for me and once made $97,000 in a single day on commissions.

Well, as she admits, she went to jail for tax evasion (among other charges). She's says she got in trouble "for the sex", but I suspect that she really did fail to pay sufficient taxes. What a whiner.

7 posted on 08/21/2003 7:18:26 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (France delenda est)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dogbrain
Still, a woman should have the right to do what she wants with her body...

That only applies to the killing of unborn children. Move along, nothing to see here.


8 posted on 08/21/2003 7:21:28 AM PDT by unixfox (Close the borders, problems solved!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy
Actually, I send the IRS money every year, even if my accountant says I should get a refund, just to make sure I don't get tossed into jail.

Besides, it's for the gummit, and they're here to help.

9 posted on 08/21/2003 7:22:45 AM PDT by dogbrain ("Life is hard son. It's harder if you're stupid.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: dogbrain
So, is JimRob assigning screen-names these days?
10 posted on 08/21/2003 7:23:17 AM PDT by gridlock (Remember: PC Kills!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dogbrain
Denise Richards used to be one of Heidis girls.
11 posted on 08/21/2003 7:23:52 AM PDT by prarie earth
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dogbrain
Really, Prostitution is only legal when it involves candidacy for public office. . . (evil grin)
12 posted on 08/21/2003 7:25:54 AM PDT by Salgak (don't mind me: the orbital mind control lasers are making me write this. . .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dogbrain
From later on in the article...

I remember a girl who came to me with choke marks around her neck. She was in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend and wanted me to help her get out of it. I recommended that she work at a restaurant for six months, but eventually I let her work for me. She made a quarter of a million her first time. She turned one more trick and then retired from the business to get a master's degree at UCLA.

I know this can't mean some John paid her $250,000 to get laid. There's just no way. I had trouble enough trying to fathom $5000 for a BJ, which she stated later on in the article.

13 posted on 08/21/2003 7:27:35 AM PDT by Viva Le Dissention
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dogbrain
I'm glad I learned the business in the trenches,

3000 dollars for your first john is NOT the trenches. Being a 14 yearold drug addict doing hummers for 10 bucks, that's the trenches though there is worse.

14 posted on 08/21/2003 7:28:37 AM PDT by biblewonk (Spose to be a Chrisssssssstian)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dogbrain
"Labia 'n yada" is an anagram of Nadya Labi.
15 posted on 08/21/2003 7:30:34 AM PDT by eno_ (Freedom Lite - it's almost worth defending)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Viva Le Dissention
"I had trouble enough trying to fathom $5000 for a BJ, which she stated later on in the article."

I know what you mean!
I wouldn't even THINK about giving one for less than $50,000!

16 posted on 08/21/2003 7:31:37 AM PDT by dogbrain ("Life is hard son. It's harder if you're stupid.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: dogbrain
heh. Tell you what--you just send all those $45,000 bj clients my way. Whaddya say?
17 posted on 08/21/2003 7:33:37 AM PDT by Viva Le Dissention
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Viva Le Dissention
You dont think this gal could clear $250,000 in one year?


18 posted on 08/21/2003 7:34:40 AM PDT by prarie earth
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Viva Le Dissention
The money could help her to do something positive with her life, like start a business or go to college. I remember a girl who came to me with choke marks around her neck. She was in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend and wanted me to help her get out of it.

"Hey honey, so your boyfriend is beating you and life is hell. I have the perfect solution.... Sex with strangers for money."

19 posted on 08/21/2003 7:37:13 AM PDT by Hillary's Lovely Legs (a 'true conservative' would rather keep Davis than elect Arnold just so they can say 'I told you so')
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: prarie earth
One year, sure--but I got the distinct impression from the article that it was a $250,000 TRICK. Not a year's worth of work.

This is paraphrased, but something like "she made a quarter million her first time out. She did one more trick and then retired."

Hey, maybe I'm reading this totally wrong--which I would like to be--otherwise I might have to seriously consider quitting the legal profession and entering into prostitution--but I don't think so.
20 posted on 08/21/2003 7:38:32 AM PDT by Viva Le Dissention
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-70 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson